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I know in a few days we'll be inundated with "key matchups" for next weekend, but since most of the posters here are smarter than most of the journalists I read, I'm wondering what some of our resident analysts think of personnel matchups.

Things like, is there anything to be learned from the way the Bears stifled Tomlinson? Should Rivers be treated like Kordel? Take away the run and make him try to beat us with his arm?

What happened to Chargers ferocious front-seven D? The Bears shot themselves in the foot, but even Grossman had drives against them?

And, biggest question of all? Which WR will be featured for the Pats? Obviously, any team that takes the field against us from now on will devote at least two defenders to Moss. Will he still get open? Or is the plan to use Moss (mostly) as a decoy next Sunday and let Welker or Stallworth shine.

The Jets were not ready for Moss, that seems apparent. Stallworth had a small role, but his one reception was prettty damn good. Will he be the secret weapon next year?

I like our chances next week. A lot. But what are some of the things we need to be aware of?

I know in a few days we'll be inundated with "key matchups" for next weekend, but since most of the posters here are smarter than most of the journalists I read, I'm wondering what some of our resident analysts think of personnel matchups.

Things like, is there anything to be learned from the way the Bears stifled Tomlinson? Should Rivers be treated like Kordel? Take away the run and make him try to beat us with his arm?

What happened to Chargers ferocious front-seven D? The Bears shot themselves in the foot, but even Grossman had drives against them?

And, biggest question of all? Which WR will be featured for the Pats? Obviously, any team that takes the field against us from now on will devote at least two defenders to Moss. Will he still get open? Or is the plan to use Moss (mostly) as a decoy next Sunday and let Welker or Stallworth shine.

The Jets were not ready for Moss, that seems apparent. Stallworth had a small role, but his one reception was prettty damn good. Will he be the secret weapon next year?

I like our chances next week. A lot. But what are some of the things we need to be aware of?

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I think 2 things and 2 things only.

1) Contain LT like the Bears did.

2) Keep the pressure off Brady to a manageable level.

The reason the Bears lost today is simple. They have an awful QB and they made too many dumb mistakes.

Philip Rivers is an overemotional mental midget. It is our game to lose.

The Jets just don't have the personnel just yet. They had a rookie out their at cb. They don't have a legit pass rusher.

Their O-line still needs some additions and Pennington's arm is obviously not very strong.

I think next week Faulk and Welker will be featured as quick release valves for the pass rush depending on how the O-line plays. I do expect the ball to be spread around still with Moss getting his fair share. The chargers depth at 2ndary will be exposed. I do think the Pats will be able to contain LT. I don't think he'll be shut down like today but he won't run wild.

I know in a few days we'll be inundated with "key matchups" for next weekend, but since most of the posters here are smarter than most of the journalists I read, I'm wondering what some of our resident analysts think of personnel matchups.

Things like, is there anything to be learned from the way the Bears stifled Tomlinson? Should Rivers be treated like Kordel? Take away the run and make him try to beat us with his arm?

What happened to Chargers ferocious front-seven D? The Bears shot themselves in the foot, but even Grossman had drives against them?

And, biggest question of all? Which WR will be featured for the Pats? Obviously, any team that takes the field against us from now on will devote at least two defenders to Moss. Will he still get open? Or is the plan to use Moss (mostly) as a decoy next Sunday and let Welker or Stallworth shine.

The Jets were not ready for Moss, that seems apparent. Stallworth had a small role, but his one reception was prettty damn good. Will he be the secret weapon next year?

I like our chances next week. A lot. But what are some of the things we need to be aware of?

Click to expand...

I think we spread the ball around a lot more next week. The Chargers have too many defensive weapons to only make them only primarily concerned about Moss and Welker. I think the Pats will have more three and four WR sets so the Chargers can't just rush Brady on every passing down. They are far better than the Jets on defense and rush the passer more than any team in the league.

The Patriots offense had success against the Chargers defense when they scrapped the two tight end alignment last season and went with the three wide receiver set. With Moss, Stallworth, and Welker at the wide receiver position, that will put a lot of pressure on the Chargers secondary, which is their defensive weakness.

As for the Patriots defense, I hope Asante Samuel scrapped the rust off his game against the Jets.

I expect a relatively high scoring game. I would not be surprised if the Patriots threw the ball on the first twenty offensive plays. Refer to the start of the 2002 NFL Season for a similar game plan against the ****y Pittsburgh Steelers.

The Patriots offense had success against the Chargers defense when they scrapped the two tight end alignment last season and went with the three wide receiver set. With Moss, Stallworth, and Welker at the wide receiver position, that will put a lot of pressure on the Chargers secondary, which is their defensive weakness.

As for the Patriots defense, I hope Asante Samuel scrapped the rust off his game against the Jets.

I expect a relatively high scoring game. I would not be surprised if the Patriots threw the ball on the first twenty offensive plays. Refer to the start of the 2002 NFL Season for a similar game plan against the ****y Pittsburgh Steelers.

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I wouldn't be surprised to see a lot of 3 and 4 receiver sets with Faulk and Morris in the back-field. The Pats O-line will TRULY be tested with the like of Merriman, Jammal Williams and Shaun Phillips coming at the Pats. Olshansky and Castillo are no slouches either.

By the way, the Chargers are similar to the Jets in that they don't play very well from behind.

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Brain fart? Rex Grossman and the Bears are truly dreadful from behind. Go look at the splits from tied and being beat for Grossman.

Seattle, Denver, Cincinatti. The only game we didn't come back to win last year was the Kansas City game where we spotted them 21 points and lost on a last second field goal. Ravens excluded since well they led for all 57seconds or something like that.

As for the actual matchups, I always love the big guys. Wilfork and Hardwick should be a great matchup, Jamal vs whoever double teams him.

This is the key.
- Running Game: The Jest front three are not as talented as the Classy-dudes, the Pats need to improve the run game consistency.
- Passing Game: The Classy-dudes will have seen how the Jest dropping 8 into coverage did not stop the Patriots' passing attack - they'll be trying to stunt and speed rush the OL.

Additional thoughts:
- In the postseason Edwards picked Tommy going to his TEs. He's in KC and the Classy-dudes have two new starters inside. This will hopefully create more opportunities in the short passing game if Tommy needs to get off some quick throws in the middle.
- Shutting down Antonio Gates was key last time. Chad Scott was a big part of that with James Sanders; will Adalius Thomas be able to recreate the role he played with the Ravens last season? Can Mitchell match-up with Gates in Nickel/Dime packages to help? Is there another defender who can play a role in limiting Gates?
- Rivers tried to pick on Hobbs last time with little more than an unsavory whine to show for his efforts. Did Coles and Cotchery knock enough rust off Samuel? His performance without benefit of slow-motion and seeing the full game seemed very rusty and Classy-dudes will probably be looking his way.
- LdT presumably got the rust knocked off this weekend, and while he should have a more challenging time then he did in the post-season (Jarvis spelled an injured Seymour heavily in that game and the linebackers are stronger with Thomas, Seau, and a two-handed Bruschi, plus Vrabes and Colvin back in their "regular" places), he'll likely break 100 yds.

Questions:
- Special Teams played a role last time thanks to the Classy and tasteful punt muffing and my hero Antwain Spann's gunning in to prevent the recovery; can the Pats build on this weekend's STs' performance and give the O and D another boost?
- Discipline, can the Pats correct this week's mistakes, limit new ones, and take advantage of those Classy-dudes who played clueless last time?

Anyone read that the Bears were a little upset about the shoe commercial where Tomlinson rips through the entire Bears defense making them look like fools? The Bears said it was disrespectful, and Tomlinson told them to deal with it. Pretty funny stuff. Walk a mile in my shoes (pun intended).

This is the key.
- Running Game: The Jest front three are not as talented as the Classy-dudes, the Pats need to improve the run game consistency.
- Passing Game: The Classy-dudes will have seen how the Jest dropping 8 into coverage did not stop the Patriots' passing attack - they'll be trying to stunt and speed rush the OL.

Additional thoughts:
- In the postseason Edwards picked Tommy going to his TEs. He's in KC and the Classy-dudes have two new starters inside. This will hopefully create more opportunities in the short passing game if Tommy needs to get off some quick throws in the middle.
- Shutting down Antonio Gates was key last time. Chad Scott was a big part of that with James Sanders; will Adalius Thomas be able to recreate the role he played with the Ravens last season? Can Mitchell match-up with Gates in Nickel/Dime packages to help? Is there another defender who can play a role in limiting Gates?
- Rivers tried to pick on Hobbs last time with little more than an unsavory whine to show for his efforts. Did Coles and Cotchery knock enough rust off Samuel? His performance without benefit of slow-motion and seeing the full game seemed very rusty and Classy-dudes will probably be looking his way.
- LdT presumably got the rust knocked off this weekend, and while he should have a more challenging time then he did in the post-season (Jarvis spelled an injured Seymour heavily in that game and the linebackers are stronger with Thomas, Seau, and a two-handed Bruschi, plus Vrabes and Colvin back in their "regular" places), he'll likely break 100 yds.

Questions:
- Special Teams played a role last time thanks to the Classy and tasteful punt muffing and my hero Antwain Spann's gunning in to prevent the recovery; can the Pats build on this weekend's STs' performance and give the O and D another boost?
- Discipline, can the Pats correct this week's mistakes, limit new ones, and take advantage of those Classy-dudes who played clueless last time?

We're going to have to attack the chargers through the air a lot more since their secondary is the weak link. And because of that, we'll probably have to use a lot of screen passes to make them pay when they blitz.

The bears absolutely shut down LT . I wonder if we can go into 4-3 and just load up on big fat guys to shut LT down? The chargers know the 3-4 very well, of course. I think that would be an advantage.

1) SD Power Running Game - In the playoff game last year SD had a lot of success running to their left (defensive right). Using a power formation with LT as RB, Neal as FB, Gates and Manumaleuna (290 pounds) as TEs, McNeil (340 pounds) as left tackle.

The Patriots had trouble slowing this down, with Seymour, TBC and Bruschi. Contrary to popular belief TBC was not the only issue, Seymour (although banged up) and Bruschi were also blown off the ball.

Matchups within the matchup
1a) Do the Patriots move Thomas over to the right to counter the power formation? This pulls him away from Gates which will be one of his primary assignments.
1b) Does Warren shift to the right hand side? Green is a little banged up and much smaller than Warren, he may get over powered by McNeil. Of course I said this against the Vikings last year and Green had a great game.
1c) Does Seau play on early downs with Thomas, with Bruschi taking more reps in obvious passing situations?
1d) Do the Patriots bring a Safety (Sanders) into the box? This would leave Wilson over top of Gates and the corners in a lot of 1;1 situations.

2) The Patriot corners against some very big WRs?
Vincent Jackson* (6'5, 240) and Floyd (6'5, 225) are huge, Hobbs and Samuel are not. This could also be a factor in the running game.
*Jackson was a binkie of mine coming out of the draft.

3) SD Corners against Patriots WRs?
- if Brady gets time there should be some deep opportunities